DIY Traditional Tree House Design with a Twist

By Dornob Staff

Usually when you go about building your own tree house you consult conventions, look for existing plans or examples to take cues from (if not build from directly). In traditional Japanese tea-master style, this designer avoided hiring an architect or skilled carpenter to construct this “tea house built too high” in Japan.

The experimental and experiential nature of the design and construction process are quite evident in the finished project, photographed by Edmund Sumner. The building pushes structural capacities to their limits and bends (or breaks) design traditions in its organic, evolved-over-time form.

Rather than using trees on the small family plot he owned, he went to a local mountain to harvest two tall logs for the support of his structure. In turn, this allowed him to situate the building where he wanted it and to fully integrate the “trees” with the building they are supporting (since they will not grow over time).